Resumo
"Quincas Borba" by Machado de Assis tells the story of Rubião, a naive schoolteacher who inherits the fortune and the peculiar philosophical system of "Humanitism" from the eccentric philosopher Quincas Borba.
As Rubião navigates Rio de Janeiro society with his newfound wealth, he attempts to live by Humanitism's tenets, which paradoxically justify a brutal struggle for survival. The novel masterfully combines social satire with profound psychological analysis, exposing the vanity, hypocrisy, and self-deception that underpin human ambition and relationships, all while subtly questioning the nature of reality and sanity.